New Mexico Green Chile Mac and Cheese
Elbows baked in a tangy cheese sauce of goat cheese, fontina and aged cheddar studded with roasted New Mexico green chile, under a crunchy toasted crumb top.
In New Mexico, chile means the state's own long green and red chiles, and "Red or green?" is the official state question. Green chile goes into stews, enchiladas and burgers, and into mac and cheese. This version is by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, cookbook authors who live just outside Santa Fe and have won four James Beard Awards (Los Alamos Daily Post:); it is adapted from their book American Home Cooking (HarperCollins) and published by Table Magazine's New Mexico edition (July 21, 2025:). For the story of New Mexico's green chile, see the green chile stew in our chili hub.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Elbows baked in a tangy cheese sauce of goat cheese, fontina and aged cheddar studded with roasted New Mexico green chile, under a crunchy toasted crumb top.
🇺🇸 The original
The oldest American recipe we could read, from 1824, is simple: boiled macaroni layered with butter and grated cheese and baked until it browns. No cheese sauce, no box. See the Virginia House-Wife Baked Macaroni (1824) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Tang against heat
Goat cheese and buttermilk give the sauce a bright, tangy edge that matches the green chile's roasted, grassy heat instead of burying it.
Toast the crumbs first
Browning the crumbs in butter before they go on means the top is crunchy after only 30 minutes in the oven.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 375°F and butter a shallow medium-large baking dish.
- Step 2
Melt the 1 tbsp butter in a small skillet over medium heat, add the bread crumbs and toast, stirring now and then, 3 to 5 minutes, until golden. Set aside.
- Step 3
Melt the 1/4 cup butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Gradually stir in the flour, add the onion and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the green chile and its juices and heat through, about 1 minute.
- Step 4
Raise the heat to medium-high and slowly whisk in the milk, buttermilk and salt. Bring to a boil, then cook about 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until lightly thickened.
- Step 5
Stir in the goat cheese until melted. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the havarti or fontina and the cheddar until smooth.
- Step 6
Toss the cooked macaroni with the sauce, spread it in the dish and scatter the toasted crumbs over the top.
- Step 7
Bake about 30 minutes, until heated through and the top is golden and crunchy. Serve hot.
New Mexico Green Chile Mac and Cheese
Serves 6 · one medium-large baking dish · 1 hr 5 min total
Crumb top
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed fresh bread crumbs (or 3/4 cup panko)
Sauce
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 to 2 tbsp minced onion
- 1 cup chopped roasted mild to medium New Mexico green chile, fresh or thawed frozen, with its juices
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 3/4 tsp salt, or more to taste
Cheese and pasta
- 6 oz creamy fresh goat cheese, crumbled
- 4 oz havarti or fontina, grated
- 6 oz aged cheddar, grated
- 3/4 lb elbow macaroni, cooked according to the package
Method
- Heat the oven to 375°F and butter a shallow medium-large baking dish.
- Melt the 1 tbsp butter in a small skillet over medium heat, add the bread crumbs and toast, stirring now and then, 3 to 5 minutes, until golden. Set aside.
- Melt the 1/4 cup butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Gradually stir in the flour, add the onion and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the green chile and its juices and heat through, about 1 minute.
- Raise the heat to medium-high and slowly whisk in the milk, buttermilk and salt. Bring to a boil, then cook about 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until lightly thickened.
- Stir in the goat cheese until melted. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the havarti or fontina and the cheddar until smooth.
- Toss the cooked macaroni with the sauce, spread it in the dish and scatter the toasted crumbs over the top.
- Bake about 30 minutes, until heated through and the top is golden and crunchy. Serve hot.
Adapted from Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, "Green Chile Mac and Cheese", from American Home Cooking, as published by Table Magazine (New Mexico). Amounts, oven temperature and bake time are theirs. The page does not give servings; 6 is our estimate for 3/4 lb pasta. Chile handling is from Colorado State University Extension (see Food safety baseline). newmexico.tablemagazine.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Chile heat varies batch to batch. The Jamisons call for mild to medium; taste a piece before you add it all.
- Frozen roasted New Mexico green chile is the easiest way to get the real thing outside the state. Canned diced green chiles work in a pinch.
- Wear gloves if your skin is sensitive, and don't touch your eyes (Table Magazine; CSU Extension).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Only Hatch chile counts. Disputed: see the chili hub. The Jamisons ask for New Mexican green chile, fresh or frozen, and do not insist on Hatch.
- "Red or green?" is the state question. Documented (Wikipedia, citing the New Mexico Secretary of State).
- Green chile mac is an old New Mexico tradition. Folklore: we found no dated history of the dish; it is best described as a New Mexico favorite in modern cookbooks.
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